


lay me down tonight

by neilwrites



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, M/M, Sleep Deprivation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27535069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neilwrites/pseuds/neilwrites
Summary: Neil can't sleep. It takes him far too long to figure out which pillow suits him best.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 17
Kudos: 326





	lay me down tonight

**Author's Note:**

> yes i bought myself a new pillow yesterday no this is not related to this fic

For the fourth time this week, Neil is already awake when he can hear the birds starting to chirp outside his window.

He sighs into the otherwise quiet dorm room and heaves himself out of bed. Kevin and Andrew are still asleep, so Neil pads away quietly and shuts the door behind him, then walks over to their coffee machine that Kevin insisted on dropping hundreds of dollars on and Neil refuses to admit it was worth it.

He cracks his neck while he waits for his coffee, then winces when it hurts. He hopes he got a good three hours of sleep before waking up because he has a two-hour class later that he won’t survive otherwise.

When his coffee has been inhaled he goes out for a run to get even more energy.

After he comes back and takes a shower, he goes back into the bedroom where Andrew is still sleeping. He drops himself down next to him, and with his head planted on Andrew’s chest and his arm wrapped around his waist, Neil falls back asleep. 

* * *

Allison tells him to get a new pillow when he finally admits why he’s been walking around like a zombie for a week and sends him a link for a highly rated one.

He asks her why it has to cost fifty bucks and she shushes him, then buys it on her own account.

It arrives the next day, and while Neil is still confused about why the pillow has to cost that much, he puts a new pillowcase on it and is hopeful when he goes to bed.

He wakes up at four a.m. and realizes he threw the pillow off of the bunk bed in his sleep, and now has a crick in his neck from resting his head on the mattress.

After classes are done for the day, Andrew coaxes him to sit next to him on their sofa instead of the bean bags while they watch a movie, and, too tired to resist, Neil joins him and falls asleep on his shoulder.

* * *

Every day, Allison gifts him a new pillow, and after the fifth reject, he tells her to stop for her bank account’s sake. She scoffs at him and takes him out to a store instead, where she patiently makes him lay his head on a dozen pillows and asks for his opinion.

They all just feel like pillows, but he doesn’t say that because Allison can see it in his eyes regardless and the promise of her wrath is enough to shut Neil up.

She buys him a memory foam pillow without showing him the price tag and kisses him on the cheek when dropping him off.

Neil gives it to Kevin the next day. It felt so incredibly wrong, and Neil’s night’s rest was even worse than usual, but he didn’t have the guts to tell Allison another one failed, so when she asks about it he smiles and nods, thanks her again, and turns around to find Andrew who's looking at him less than impressed.

Neil doesn’t scream, but he does startle hard enough to flail his arm out, nearly hitting Andrew in the face. Andrew is quick to grab onto his wrist and still him.

“Neil,” he says.

Neil hmms.

“Walk with me,” Andrew says before dragging him behind him anyway, into the bedroom. 

With their legs hanging off the side and them both leaning up against the wall, Andrew grabs hold of Neil’s hand, links their fingers, and demands, “Talk.”

“About what?” Neil asks, like an idiot, and the look on Andrew’s face confirms it.

“You’re not sleeping,” he ignores Neil’s oblivious act. “How come?”

Neil shrugs, giving up and sinking down a little further, resting his heavy head on Andrew’s shoulder. “I don’t know.”

“Nightmares?” Andrew guesses.

Neil shakes his head, and Andrew tsks when he’s hit in the face with Neil’s wild curls but he doesn’t complain.

“What can I do?”

Neil sighs and closes his eyes. “I don’t know,” he says again. “I’ve tried all the pillows in the world, it feels like. They all just suck. I wake up after a few hours, if that, and that’s it, my day starts.”

“And you didn’t tell me, why?”

Neil twists to look up at Andrew. “What could you do? I didn’t want to put that on you when you can’t help it either.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Well yeah, I know that.”

Andrew rolls his eyes. Neil can’t see it, but he _knows_ he just rolled his eyes at him.

“Not just an idiot in general, but also in this specific case.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not sure if you remember,” Andrew says, sounding very pleased with himself, “but I was there a few times where you slept for hours on end.”

“I think I’d remember if I slept for hours, Andrew. I’m a walking corpse.”

Andrew turns slightly to sniff Neil’s hair like he sometimes does when he thinks Neil isn’t paying attention.

“We watched a movie a few nights ago, right?”

“Uh,” Neil hesitates. “Sure.”

“What was it about?”

Neil bites his lip as he thinks. “Is this a trick? Did we not watch a movie and are you trying to call my bluff?”

Andrew exhales loudly to hide his amused chuckle. “No, we watched a movie. Kevin complained the next morning that we were hogging the tv.”

Neil deflates. “I can’t remember.”

“Right,” Andrew says, sounding pleased again, and it fills Neil’s chest with warmth even though he won’t express that embarrassing thought. “Because you fell asleep on me after the first two minutes.”

“That doesn’t sound right.”

“Literally _on me_ , Neil.” Andrew grabs Neil’s chin gently between two fingers and turns him to look him in the eye. “We stayed there for five hours until I carried you to bed. Yes, up the top bunk.”

Neil pouts. “I’m too tired to figure out what you’re trying to say here.”

“I’m saying,” Andrew sighs before pecking Neil gently on the lips, just once, “That I’m your pillow.”

“How does that even work, you’re built like a brick house—”

Andrew shushes him, going as far as to put his finger to Neil’s lips. It’s a testament to how tired Neil is that he isn’t trying to bite it.

“How about we go to bed, both of us, right here, and we see how well you sleep?”

Well. It’s not like there are any downsides to accepting that offer. 

“I guess I can agree to your terms.”

The corner of Andrew’s mouth lifts up, and as if they’re linked, so do Neil’s.

“No snoring,” Andrew says as they lay down and get comfortable, with Andrew’s head on his pillow and Neil’s head on Andrew’s chest.

“Pillows don’t talk,” Neil says before falling asleep in five seconds flat.

**Author's Note:**

> shout at me on [twitter!](http://twitter.com/neilmoony)  
> 


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